The present invention relates generally to a security inspection device and, more particularly, to a security inspection device attachable to an electrical wiring harness for preventing a person from installing and connecting the wiring harness onto a frame, e.g., of a motor vehicle, before the harness passes electrical inspection.
Generally, a wiring harness is made from a plurality of different length wires, preferably copper, of the same or different gauge, tied or strapped together, each wire being covered with color coded insulation. Early prior art wiring harnesses were made on location by a person first cutting, then stripping the insulation from each of the end portions of the wires, and then connecting the end portions of the wires having various color coded insulation to designated terminals of electrical devices and to terminals connected to a source of electrical energy. For example, wires in a harness are connected from a light bulb or a motor to an electrical storage battery, and a switch is interconnected therebetween for controlling the electrical current from the battery to the electrical device. The wiring connections generally were then further secured by welding, soldering or clamping of the wire ends to the terminals. As the state of the wiring harness art progressed, wires for a harness were first assembled on a harness forming board and the harness was then installed onto a motor vehicle frame. As advances were made in the art, many of the stripped wire ends were secured to solderless wire wrap terminals or welded to tabs insertable into mating connectors. For many years a wiring harness, for example, for a vehicle, contained wires interconnecting a battery to an ignition system and to several electrical devises such as a plurality of motors, light bulbs and a radio. As additional electrical devices were secured to the vehicle frame, the wiring harness connecting the devices to a battery also became more complex. Currently, a vehicle wiring harness for a motor vehicle interconnects a battery and a large variety of electrical devices to a computer. Occasionally a wiring harness is defectively made on a harness forming board or damaged prior to installation onto a vehicle frame. It would, therefore, be desirable to detect a defective wiring harness and prevent a person from securing and connecting the harness to electrical devices of a motor vehicle.
Prior art devices and procedures for avoiding installation of a defective wiring harness onto a vehicle frame have not been entirely effective because a person not knowing that the harness has an internal defect could still install and connect the harness onto a vehicle frame. As readily known to those skilled in the art, the cost of replacing a defective harness installed in a vehicle frame is substantial. A solution to the problem is to require a person to inspect and electrically test the wiring harness immediately prior to installation of the harness onto the frame. However, to conduct an electrical test of the harness immediately prior to installation of the harness onto a frame requires complicated and expensive electrical testing equipment at each assembly location. Further experience has proven that in a motor vehicle assembly plant, the inspection department should be separate and independent from the production department. Another approach is to identify a harness with an inspection tag attachable to the wiring harness for designating a defective or approved harness, such tags being readily available on the market. But such tags have not been entirely effective because the tags could readily be removed from a defective wiring harness before installation of the harness onto a frame especially when approved harnesses are not available and motor vehicle frames are moving on a production line requiring a wiring harness. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a security inspection device that can be removed from an electrical wiring harness only after the harness passes electrical inspection.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved electrical wiring harness security inspection device of the character described above.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved electrical wiring harness security inspection device which obviates the above-described disadvantages of the prior art devices.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved electrical wiring harness security inspection device embodying a novel structural assembly of a base, a cradle for receiving a connector of a wiring harness, and retaining means for maintaining the cradle attached to the connector of the wiring harness until the wiring harness passes inspection.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical wiring harness security inspection device with an electrical latching mechanism permitting removal of a connector of a wiring harness from a cradle only after the electrical wiring harness has passed electrical inspection.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty characterizing the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.